Spindex Mods and Attachment

[rossbotics]

Doug,

Those mods make a big difference the cheap spindexers. I did very similar for my T&C grinder. I did consider making a tail stock but so far I have not had need for one.

There is one extra modification that I did to mine. As they come it is very hard to remove all endfloat and still have a smooth rotation so I decided to keep it loaded with a spring. I didn't have one of the right size and I used a bunch of O-rings instead. Lack of endfloat was critical for my main application and this fixed it perfectly. Details are shown in a previous post http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/h...6205#post83248

I also had a need for smooth low friction combined longitudinal and rotational motion and so I converted it to work as an air bearing when needed. This is only of use in specific applications.

Thanks Tony, what you did to your spindexer was great, never considered sharpening ball end mills or end mills with radiused corners, one would have to make an attachment basically with your design to achieve those functions, the end play was a problem as well, I had considered winding a spring but never thought about the O-ring method, I did drill a 1/4" hole through the housing and through the spindle and a 1/4" hole in the collet tightening knob to use two 1/4" long punches for tightening and loosening the collets.
Thanks for all the heads up
Doug